Mikrochips for Neuromodulation for in patient-specific modular substrates with increased life-time - NeuroBus 2.0

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Maurits Ortmanns; Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Stieglitz
• Subject Area: Microsystems ; Biomedical Systems Technology
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 401023906

In the first phase of the Neurobus project, a collaboration between the universities of Freiburg and Ulm pursued the goal of developing materials science and circuit fundamentals and methods for novel neural interfaces. The aim was to enable a highly scalable and modular system that allows adaptation to the individual requirements of an application, such as anatomical boundary conditions and implant specifications, in terms of conductor routing, position, size and number of neurointerfaces as well as dimensions of the flexible substrate. For this purpose, the usual approach for chronically implantable neurointerfaces - i.e., distributed passive electrodes with centralized electronics - was to be abandoned, and a high number of extremely miniaturized microchips (μASIC) were to be integrated in flexible thin-film substrates with long-term stability; the fundamental objective of Neurobus was thus to achieve the most universal possible combination of the outstanding functional density of integrated CMOS circuits with flexible and biocompatible thin-film technology. Although the first phase of the project demonstrated significant results in both the integration density of µASICs and their reliable and repeatable placement, encapsulation and wiring in films, further research is needed to achieve the overall goal of the project and to demonstrate in the state of the art this novel form of electrically functional, long-term stable and biocompatible implants. The second project phase envisages the realization of an optimized novel neurorecorder, the establishment of a stimulation unit compatible with the μASIC, and the first realization of a complete µASIC prototype. Also, the methodical enhancement of the long-term stability of the encapsulation, and the validation of the overall system of the long-term stable and bidirectional neurointerface as a proof-of-concept prototype on an AgarGel phantom model is envisioned. The fundamental research results are significant beyond the specific use case, as they enable a highly dynamic implantable platform of sensors and actuators.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants